Periodic Charges and Services
Periodic Services and Charges are templates which are used to generate repeat jobs and charges at
almost any interval. They are a powerful part of your Smart billing system.
Periodic Services and Periodic Charges are very similar,
except that when they are generated Periodic Services appear in the Job Despatch
window and require operator completion before being submitted for invoicing, while Periodic
Charges go straight to the 'Approve Items for Invoicing' window. Access to Periodic
Charges windows is more limited than for Periodic Services.
Creating a Periodic Service or Charge
Access the list of Periodic Services by clicking on the button on the 'Getting
Around Smart' window, or by selecting \Operations \Periodic Services from the
Main Menu.
Access the list of Periodic Charges by clicking on the button on the 'Getting
Around Smart' window, or by selecting \Accounts \Customers \Periodic Charges
from the Main Menu.

- To filter the view (for example, to show only
periodics for a specified customer), click on the appropriate left button. To
clear your selection and see periodics for all customers again, press the same
button.
- Select 'Current' in the 'Display' box to exclude
periodics where the 'Cancelled' box has been checked, or the periodic is not
active because of the setting of the Suspended, Commenced, or Terminated
dates. Select 'Inactive' to see only inactive jobs.
- Press the 'Print' button to print one or more
periodics. You will be asked whether you want to print only the highhighted
periodic, or all periodics in the current view.
- Press the 'Copy' button to either
- create a new periodic based on the highlighted
periodic, or
- copy selected fields (for example, the service provider) from the
highlighted periodic to the other periodics in the view.
- To sort the view, click on the label at the top of a column. Sorting is
not available for all columns.
Right click on an entry for adding and updating options.
To view an existing entry you can also double click on it, right click or
highlight it and press the Enter key. To add an entry, you can also press the
Insert key. Operator access is defined in the Operator Configuration
window.
Dates and Rates

| Frequency |
Every Day: Generates every
day Weekly: Generates every 7
days Fortnightly: Generates every 14 days 4
Weekly: Generates every 28 days Weekdays:
Generates every day, Monday to Friday (including public
holidays) Weekends: Generates every Saturday and
Sunday (including public holidays) Public Holidays:
Generates only on days specified as public holidays (choose \Maintenance
\Smart Setup \Public Holidays from the Main Menu). See also comments in
following section ('Next'). Once Only: Generates once
only and is then marked 'cancelled'. Daily Interval:
Generates every x days (a field are displayed so you can specify the
number of days). Monthly, Same Day: e.g. 2nd Tuesday
of month (additional fields are displayed to specify details). You are not
permitted to select the 5th day of the month because some months don't
have 5 of some days. Monthly, Same Date: Same day of
the month each month, e.g. 20th. If the date specified in Next: is
the 28th of the month or later, this has the same effect as choosing
'Month End'. Month End: Last day of the month, i.e.
February 28 (or 29), March 31, etc. Quarterly: Same
day of the month each quarter (3 months), e.g. 20th. If the date specified
in Next: is the 28th of the month or later, the charge or service is
generated on the last day of the month. 6 Monthly:
Same day of the month every 6 months, e.g. 20th. If the date
specified in Next: is the 28th of the month or later, the charge or
service is generated on the last day of the
month. Yearly: Same date each year. If the date
specified is 29 February (only possible in a leap year) subsequent years
will be generated on 28 February. |
| Next |
The charge or service will be generated on this date and this date will
appear as the Received date (and for Services, the Scheduled Date). Once
the charge or service has been generated the date is rolled forward.
- If necessary, multiple charges or services will be generated in one
pass. For example if you set up a monthly charge with the Next date set to 6 months ago and
then generate periodics, 6 monthly charges will be generated. This
allows you to back charge if appropriate.
- If you specify a Next date which does not match the
frequency, for example if the frequency is set to Weekends but you specify a weekday, the next
charge or service is generated on the date specified but future charges
or services will only be generated on Saturdays or Sundays.
- If you specify a frequency of Public Holiday and a public
holiday occurs before the date specified in Next, a charge or
service will be generated for the public holiday (this is a safety
feature) and not for the specified date (unless it's a public holiday).
If you want to skip the next public holiday, use Suspend
From/To (see below).
- If you specify a frequency of Public Holiday and a date
which is not a public holiday, a charge or service will be
generated for that date (unless a public holiday occurs first, see
previous point).
|
| To cover period from/to |
These dates are shown in the Service Details section
of the invoice. They are also used when calculating the charge for a part
period (see Suspend, Commence, Terminate). Usually you would set these
dates to cover the full period, e.g. for a monthly charge you could
set the dates to the first and last day of the month.
Smart calculates these dates for you when you select a
frequency. |
| Suspend from/to |
Setting these dates suspends the charge or service for the date range
shown and adjusts the price accordingly.
If a From date is specified with no To date this
suspends the charge or service indefinitely. (Using Terminate may
be more appropriate, see below.)
If a To date is specified with no From date this
suspends the charge or service immediately, until the To
date.
See the section Price calculation for part periods, below for
further information. |
| Commence |
Specifying a Commence date commences charging from that date.
If necessary a partial charge or service will be generated for the period
containing the Commence date. See also Price calculation
for part periods, below. |
| Terminate |
Specifying a Terminate date terminates charging at
that date. If necessary a partial charge or service will be generated for
the period containing the Terminate date. See also Price
calculation for part periods, below. It is not necessary to check the
Cancelled box. This will be checked automatically after Smart has
generated any remaining charges or services. |
| Cancelled |
Check this box to cancel generation of this charge or service
immediately. No further generation will take place,
regardless of any other setting.
In most cases, you will enter a Terminate date rather than
check this box. Entering a Terminate date will ensure that Smart
calculates and bills for any outstanding part periods. It also gives you a
visual record of the date the charge or service was cancelled. Smart will
automatically check the Cancelled box once there are no more
charges or services to generate. |
| Start at/after |
Specify the time (if any) the service is due (this is usually not
relevant for charges). This time is used as the Received Time (and for
Services, the Scheduled Time) for the charge or service. |
| Repeat ... times |
Repeat the service this number of times. Only used for Patrols (see
below). |
| O/No |
Order number (if any) provided by the client. This order number
appears on the generated service or charge. |
| Ref |
Customer reference. If anything is entered here it may
be used as the job number for generated charges and
services, depending on the setting in the General Configuration window (Periodics tab,
'Customer Ref as Job Ref').
It appears prefaced by the words 'Our Reference: ' in the service
details for a Charge.
|
| Charge Customer |
The amount ex GST to charge the customer (GST is
calculated and applied at generate time).
The customer pricing for a charge or service can be modified after
generation by an operator with the appropriate access level.
If the charge specified here is $0, the price may be calculated at
generation time depending on your system configuration.
If the generated service is despatched by an operator who changes the
details, the price will be adjusted automatically. For this reason,
service pricing (as opposed to charge pricing) should be
set up in the Customer Rate window (press the $ button next to the
customer, at the top of this window). |
| Pay Contractor/ Split |
The amount ex GST to pay the contractor, if any
(GST is calculated and applied at generate time).
The contractor pricing for a charge or service can be modified after
generation by an operator with the appropriate access level.
If the charge specified here is $0, the price may be calculated at
generation time depending on your system configuration.
If the generated service is despatched by an operator who changes the
details, the price will be adjusted automatically. For this reason,
service pricing (as opposed to charge pricing) should be
set up in the Customer Rate window (press the $ button next to the
customer, at the top of this window). |
| Holiday Surcharge |
The amount(s) entered here will be added to the Customer Charge or
Contractor Payment for each public holiday which falls between the Period
From and To dates. The amounts and any GST are calculated at generate
time.
If no charge or payment is to apply on a public holiday, enter a
negative amount here and it will be subtracted from the normal charge for
this period.
To specify public holidays, choose \Maintenance \Smart Setup \Public
Holidays from the Main Menu. |
| Division |
Specify the Division for the generated Charge or Service. Depending on
your system configuration, Divisions might be called something else. |
| Do Not Generate Charge or Service |
If this box is checked no charge or service is generated (the dates
are rolled forward, however). You can use this facility for items
which are not being billed or despatched in Smart but which are to appear
on a service provider runsheet, e.g. patrols. |
Price calculation for part periods
If a part period applies (because the charge or service commences after the
start of the period, ends before the end of the period, or is suspended for part
of the period) Smart calculates a revised price for the charge or service.
(If the charge or service is suspended for the entire period, nothing is
generated.)
There are two slightly different methods for calculating pricing for part
periods (the difference is approximately 1%). To choose a method, change the
setting in the General Configuration window, Periodics tab, Part Periods.
- Credit off service - Customer receives credit for
time off service at average daily rate (favours you)
- Charge on service - Customer is charged only for time on service at daily
rate (favours customer)
Service Details tab
| Control Room |
Determines which control room the charge or service is attributed to
(only applicable if your system is set up with more than one control
room).
The term 'Control Room' may be replaced by another term, depending on
your system configuration. |
| Instructions / Invoice Detail |
Anything entered here appears in the Service Details for the generated
service or charge. |
| Don't print above details on Invoice |
If checked, the 'Print on Invoice' checkbox on the Job Details window
(Service Details tab) is cleared so that the Service Details do not appear
on the invoice. |
| Use Fixed Width Font |
Uses a fixed width font when displaying or
printing service details for this Periodic Charge or Service or jobs
generated by it. Use this if you are entering details in columns (e.g. a
series of labour shifts) so that the columns will be displayed
correctly. |
| Enter Daily Hours |
Brings up a window allowing quick entry of daily hours. You must enter
dates in this window in order to generate entries. Usually (unless the
charge or service is a Once Only) after closing this window you would edit
the Instructions / Invoice Detail field and replace the dates with days of
the week. |
| Internal Notes |
Anything entered here appears in the Internal Notes field of the Job
Details window for the generated charge or service. |
| Include in Operational Reports |
The following reports have the option to include only periodic charges
or services which have this box checked :
- Patrol Run Sheets (select \Operations \Print
\Patrol Run Sheets)
- Periodic Service Preview (select \Operations \Print \Periodics
Preview)
Use this if you generate run sheets based on periodic charge or service
entries rather than the charges and services generated by them. |
| Big Notes |
Provides a much larger window for the entry of Internal Notes (see
above). |
Patrols
Details of Patrols are entered on the Patrols tab.
The patrols tab is displayed if the Service Type for the Service selected
contains the word 'Patrol' or the System
Configuration Service
Type setting Periodic Details / Show Patrols tab is set to
'Yes' for this service type.
Click here for further information.
Guards
Details of Patrols are entered on the Patrols tab. The patrols tab is
displayed if the System
Configuration Service Type setting Periodic Details / Show
Guards tab is set to 'Yes' for this service type.
For further information see the Guard
Scheduling section.
Other

Pressing the Generated Items button displays a list of
charges or services generated by this Periodic. Double click on an entry to see
further details.
Press the Change History button displays a history of
operator changes for this Periodic.
To generate the jobs and charges which will appear in
the the despatch window and/or the Approve Items for Invoicing window, press the
Generate button on the list of Periodic Charges or
Services.
This window will appear:

You can also set up automatic generation (or limit access) in the General Configuration window. This
window also has options to display the date range covered by the charge or
service, and show the number of services.
It's a good idea to generate periodics daily so that you
don't miss anything. The options in the above window allow you to select whether
to generate for the next day or night shift (if periodics are generated
automatically, charges or services due up to midnight tomorrow
will be generated).
If you miss generating for a few days, Smart will generate as many services
or charges as necessary to catch up. For example if you specified a service
frequency of daily but didn't generate periodics for a week, the next time you
generated you would see 7 services generated. If you accidentally enter an old
date (say, a century back) Smart will generate a maximum of 100 charges or
services in an attempt to get up to date.
Duplicate charges and services won't be generated, so if you choose to
generate more than once on the same day there is no risk of generating the same
service or charge more than once.
You can safely generate periodics more than once on
the same day without generating duplicate services or charges. Only periodics added or changed between generations which
are now due will be generated.
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